CHAP. LXXV. 



OLEA CE^.. 



1207 



Mcench ; has the leaves lanceolate and glabrous. There is a plant in 

 the Horticultural Society's Garden. 

 ^ ^ C. V. 4 maritima Pursh Fl. Amer. Sept., i. p. 8. ; C. maritima Lodd. 

 Cat., ed. 1836 ; is a native of North America, in boggy woods by the 

 sea side ; having the leaves obovate-lanceolate, membranous, and 

 pubescent ; the panicles very loose ; and the drupes elliptic. There is 

 a fine plant of this variety, as a stool, in the Marylebone Nursery. 



App. I. Half-hardy l?'g?ieous Species qfOledcece belonging to 

 the Section Olcina;. 



O'lea L., the olive, is an important genus in the south of Europe, and in the temperate parts of 

 Asia and Africa, by the sea coast ; and it promises also to be a valuable tree in Australia. There 

 are a number of species ; but none of them are of much 

 value in rural economy, except the 0. europ<E'a. In Don's 

 Miller, 26 species are described, from which we shall select 

 three, and some varieties, which are found to stand the open air, 

 in the neighbourhood of London, against a south wall, with 

 very little protection. We shall also give a selection of varieties 

 suitable for introducing into Australia and other colonies. 



i O. europtc'a L. ; 0. Oleaster Hoffmaiisegg Fl. Port., 1. 

 p. 387., Don's Mill., 4. p. 4fi. ; 0. europas'a commiinis Ait. ; 0. 

 sylv^stris Mill. Diet., Blackw., t. 113. ; is a native of Portugal, 

 the south of France, Spain, and Italy ; and is to the cultivated 

 olive (0. e. sativa) what the crab is to the apple. 



J O. e. sntiva ; 0. sativa Hoffma7iscgg ; 0. europ^'a Michx. 

 Arb., 2. t. 37. ; and our/o'. 1031. ; the cultivated olive, is said to 

 have been brought originally from Asia to France, Spain, and ^_ 



Italy; in which countries it has been cultivated almost from " *> 



time immemorial. The subvariety O. e. s. longifhlia {fig. 1032.) is that chiefly cultivated in France 

 and Italy, and O. c. s. latifolia in Spain. The fruit of the latter is nearly twice the size of the 

 common olive of Provence or Italy; but the oil is so rank in flavour as to be too strong for most 

 English palates. The oil, and (he fruit in a pickled state, 

 are sent chiefly from Languedoc, Leghorn, and Naples, 

 to England. The best oil is from Leghorn, and the best 

 pickles are from Genoa and Marseilles. The tree seldom 

 exceeds 30 ft. in height; is branchy, glaucous, evergreen, 

 and of such great longevity, that .some plantations in Italy, 

 as at Terni (which we passed through in 1819, on our way 

 to the Falls of Marmora), are supposed to have existed 

 from the time of Pliny. The tree delights in schistous 

 calcareous declivities, but does not thrive in elevated 

 situations, or at a distance from the sea. The best oil is 

 produced from fruits grown on calcareous soils. Olive oil 

 may be said to form the cream and butter of Spain and 

 Italy ; and the tree has been celebrated in all ages as the 

 bounteous gift of Heaven, and as the emblem of (leace 

 and plenty. Olive oil is made by crushing the fruit to a 

 paste, then pressing it through a hempen or rush bag, 

 adding hot water, and afterwards skimming off the oil 

 from its surface. Pickled olives are prepared from unripe 

 fruit, chiefly from the subvariety O.c. s. oblonga (Pignola, 

 //rt/.; Picholine, Fr.),hy steeping them in alkaline water, 

 and afterwards bottling them in salt and water, with or 

 without some kind of spice, or aromatic. Theoliveis propagated, in some parts of Italy, by cuttings, and 

 what are called uovoli (little eggs), and in other parts by seed. The uovoli are knots, swellings, or tu- 

 mours in the wood, occasioned by the sap not returning freely to the root, but swelling through the bark 

 of the stock, and thus forming excrescences containing embryo buds. They are separated from the 

 trunk by introducing a sharp penknife between the trunk and the uovolo, and so detaching the latter. 

 The mother plant suffers no injury from the operation. The uovoli are planted in the same manner as 

 bulbs. When raised from seed, the fruit should be treated like haws ; and, though some will come up 

 in October if sown in spring, yet the greater number will not make their appearance till the following 

 May. Seedling plants have the advantage of never throwing up suckers ; and in Tuscany, where this 

 mode of propagation is generally practised, it is said to produce invariably the largest and strongest 

 trees. A varictv of interesting" information on the propagation of the olive, communicated by 

 SignorLuigi Manettiof Monza, will be found in the Gardeners Magazine, vol vii. p. 6(i3., and vol. viii. 

 p. 68. ; and the fullest account of the tree and its uses. &c., hitherto published, in the Nouveait Du 

 Hamel, vol. v. p. G.5. to p. 124. In Britain, specimens of the olive may be found in various gardens in 

 the neighbourhood of London, which have stood out for several years against a south w^all without any 

 protection. A tree in the garden of Camden House produced a crop of olives in 1790. Some in the 

 Horticultural Society's Garden have stood out eight vears against a wall ; and one, of a very hardy 

 variety, received from the Nikitka Garden, in the Crimea, has stood out some years as a standard, 

 without being in the slightest degree injured, even by the severe winter of 1835-fi. In Ireland, the olive 

 survives the winters perfectly in the neighbourhood of Dublin, but never flowers. In Devonshire, in 

 warm places, it passes the winter as a standard ; and against a wall bears abundant crops of fruit. 

 In general, the more hardy varieties of the common olive may be considered as equally hardy 

 with the common varieties of the camellia. 



The Subvarieties of the olive are very numerous. Those in most common cultivation in British 

 gardens are, O. c s. longijolia Ait., Bot. Cab., t. 456., and onr fig. 1032. ; O. <■. .s. ferruginea Ait., 

 Royle must., t. 65. f. 1., and our fig. 1033., a native of the Cape of Good Hope, and, according to 

 Royle, of the Himalayas, with the leaves rustv beneath ; O. e. s. latifolia Ait., O. hispanica Mill., 

 Blackw., 1. 199., which, as has already been observed, is chiefly cultivated in Spain ; O. e. s. oblioua 

 Ait ; and O. e. s. huxifhlia Ait. Besides these, there are 13 garden varieties of the cultivated olive 



